Immortally Yours
by wyverndragon
Summary: A collection of stories, drabbles and oneshots about the life of one Miss Lara Croft, her many adventures, and how they changed her, for good and for ill. *Hybrid Canon*
1. REALLY IMPORTANT AUTHORS NOTE

_**IF YOU ARE NEW TO THIS FIC, FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY READ THESE NOTES!**_

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Yes, I _know_ this chapter is entirely AN. I get it. But this piece _really_ needs an explanation, otherwise you all will be either confused or annoyed that I "didn't get canon even close to right."

This piece, formally known as _Immortalis_, is like a giant Tomb Raider timeline, linking all the different storylines (Original, AOD, LAU, Reboot) together in a way that actually makes sense. (I admit, the reboot bit is a tad off, but this was conceptualized before it came out. Bear with me please.) It also happens to answer a few questions I had while going through the series, such as "Where did Lara's pistols come from, and why is she so attached to them?", "What happened to Kurtis?", "Where was Anaya during the Paraiso shenanigans?", "When did Alister show up?", and namely...

**WHAT THE HELL IS UP WITH LARA'S AGE?!**

Yeah. So after a little work and finagling, it all fell into place, based around one concept. I'm not going to beat around the bush and hint at it in-fic, because this is basically just a bunch of drabbles and/or oneshots from this universe anyways. The concept is thus... Lara Croft is immortal.

There's a bit more to it than that, going into immortal status and society and stuff, but to keep it short and simple, Lara grew up immortal among a bunch of other immortals, got kicked out, and all kinds of weird stuff occurs. Not always good stuff either. And you'd think immortality would be easy... ha ha ha. Poor Lara.

I might explain more in more detail later, but for now I'll just toss in a disclaimer, some notes on ratings, and the general timeline and be done with it.

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**Disclaimer:**

Odds are, if you recognize the character, he or she does not belong to me. However, there are a number of OCs, some immortal, some not, that do. These include, but are not limited to: Erin Fisher, Lisa Riley, Rebecca Martinez, Alex Croft, Jack (the Pilot), Chris, Steph, Freya Smith.

You are welcome to use them if you wish, but please _**credit back to **__**me**__._ I've spent a crapload of time developing most of them.

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**Notes On Ratings:**

The general story is rated T, but some chapters have M stuff in them. Most of it is stuff like character death, not-terribly-detailed gore, and language (mostly Kurtis dropping F-bombs for that one). There is a couple occasions when rape themes will be mentioned, but they will _**most **__**definitely **_be marked as such. Others should be marked, but if I miss marking Kurtis' mouth, don't whine to me about it. You've been warned here, and I'm only human. I apologize in advance.

Also, the story is labeled as Adventure/Drama, but the individual pieces can range from Humor to Romance to Angst to Horror. And probably _a lot_ of Tragedy. The alternate title for this universe is _Everybody Dies_, if that gives you a hint. But there should be some nice fluffy Lara/Kurtis, and a lot of Erin and Lisa shenanigans, so it all should balance out.

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**THE TIMELINE:**

The major events are mentioned in the description of each part. Some of the later ones are more vague, because they contain spoilers for personal content. At the beginning of each piece, I will mention where it fits in this timeline (e.g. part 1, part 5, plus references within each part)

Part 1: Nepal Plane Crash/Amelia's Disappearance  
Part 2: The Rebellion/Alex's Death  
Part 3: Lara's Exile/Black Isle  
Part 4: Cambodia/The First Tomb  
Part 5: Paraiso/Amanda's 'Death'

Part 6: Dragon's Triangle/A Survivor is Born

Part 7: Interlude in Rome/Meet Larson and Pierre  
Part 8: Natla's Meddlings/The Dual Pistols/Larson's Betrayal

Part 9: The Dagger of Xian/Golden Mask/Lara Snaps  
Part 10: Meteorite Artifacts/Lara Regrets Listening to Her Friends  
Part 11: Hand of Tornusk/Theories Made/Technical Difficulties at the Other End  
Part 12: VCI/New Techie/Von Croy has Trust Issues

Part 13: Messing With Psycho Egyptian Gods/Erin and Lisa Come and Go  
Part 14: Death of Von Croy/Tech Team AWOL/On the Run  
Part 15: Into the Strahov/Introducing Mister Trent

Part 16: Rest and Recuperation/Kurtis Trent is a Patronizing Bastard  
Part 17: Cappadocia/Prophecies Make No Sense/Karel Goes Boom  
Part 18: En Route to England/Three Dead, Bloody Floors  
Part 19: Immortal Subterfuge/Kurtis Meets Immortalis/Lara Falls

Part 20: Legend-but-Not/Three Dead, No Bodies  
Part 21: Kurtis has a Hammah/Bringing Back Lara  
Part 22: Assorted Croft Manor Shenanigans (HAPPY FLUFFY STUFF)  
Part 23: Totec Self-Destructs/Magic Spears Confuse Kurtis

Part 24: Kidnapped!/Okh-Eshivar  
Part 25: Hunting For Amanda/Everything Hits the Fan

Part 26: Backup What Backup/Screwing With Time  
Part 27: Natla's Proposition/The Staff of Liandra  
Part 28: Natla Dies (Finally!)/Lara and Doppie Go Boom/The End of All Things


	2. Down the River

**Immortally Yours**

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**Genre: **Adventure/Humor?  
**Rating: **T  
**Warnings: **Mild Cursing, Mild Hysterics  
**Timeline Part: **6 (Dragon's Triangle): Lara falls down the river, the parachute scene**  
Characters: **Lara, Alister

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**Down the River**

Lara had never hated a river so much as in that moment. It was right in the way, between her and Sam, and the bastards that had taken her, killed Steph, and god-knows-what-else. They would pay, all of them, but she was running out of time. She would have to cross the rushing current, which was not an exciting prospect, especially in her current state.

Each step into the shallows brought more water swirling around her, and the current began to tug at her. "Damn river," she muttered under her breath. Static crackled in her ear immediately, bringing Alister's voice over with it. "You alright? How close are you?"

"I have to cross this bloody river, but I'm not too far away. Anything from Sam?" Unable to stand the current much longer, Lara rushed forward, hanging onto a pole that stuck out of the riverbed. She slipped around it, reaching out and grabbing the next solid piece of debris among the rushing water. The next one was farther away, too far to touch without putting herself at the mercy of the river. The hiss of more static made her freeze, only to hear Alister reply, "no, nothing from anyone, really."

Lara nodded, although she knew he couldn't see, before flinging herself across the gap. Her fingertips barely caught the rough wooden post, and she clung to it like a frightened child as she regained her breath. Too late, she heard a creak and the sound of splintering wood, and the post broke under her grip, pulling her down the river.

Somewhere among the rapid movement of the water she lost her hold on the post, and she flailed and struggled to keep her head above the surface as the current tossed her about. She coughed and choked as water flew into her mouth and nose, and all she could do was attempt to keep herself alive. The river kept surging onward, slamming her into any debris she couldn't avoid. After what felt like hours, her bedraggled body was flung into the remains of a plane, her head hitting glass with a sharp crack, and everything went black for a moment.

There wasn't enough time for her to rest, as Lara felt the glass beneath her begin to crack against her weight. A small measure of panic began to seep into her veins, but she realized there was an object dangling above her. A backpack, containing a parachute, no doubt. Slowly levying herself up on bruised arms, she reached for the bag. The glass continued to crack, but she was wary sudden movement would make it collapse out from under her. Her fingers were close, almost there, but everything hurt, and the metal around her continued to groan. Another few inches…

More static buzzed, making her jump high enough that her fingers could brush the bag, snatching it off the twisted metal it was caught on. Alister apparently heard the clamor of the river. She collapsed back to the floor, pulling the backpack onto her back, as another long crack ran across the glass. The wave of relief that washed over her was broken by Alister's worried tone. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Lara muttered. "I'm in a plane."

"Oka- Wait, what?"

The glass broke out from under her before she could answer. A scream died in her throat as she fell, faster and faster, clawing at the straps of her bag to release a parachute. The first one she released didn't catch, and it floated away on the breeze, increasing her panic. She couldn't breathe, her hands were numb, her hair whipped in her eyes, and the wind tore at her face. Suddenly, miraculously, she found another catch, and the parachute took. Her whole body jolted upwards as it slowed her fall, dangling from the thin green canvas. The river spread out below her, and her feet barely brushed the treetops as she glided down, moving left and right with calm swishes to find a safe place to land.

It didn't last. One of the ropes snapped, sending Lara careening sideways, spinning round and round as she screamed. The world blurred sickeningly, and then she heard a distinct crack of snapping rope. She fell, clawing at the branches in an attempt to get a steady hold, garbled shouts of pain intermixed with screams spewing from her mouth as the branches whipped her face and stabbed her body. An overwhelming jolt of pain shot through her as she hit the ground, stars flashing before her eyes.

Everything was spinning, and Lara struggled to sit up. There was static in her ear again, and she could hear Alister asking, "Lara, _are you okay_?" For some reason, the worry in his voice sent her into a fit of hysterical giggles. It hurt her sides, but she couldn't stop. Her voice was barely understandable between bouts of insane laughter when she replied, "I fell out of a tree." In retrospect, she would never figure out why she found the situation so hilarious.

Alister sighed, obviously restraining himself. He spoke slowly, enunciating clearly, in the hopes that it would get through her mirth. "Lara. You may be on an adrenaline high, but you are actually in _large amounts of pain_." She couldn't help but laugh harder, but he continued. "You need to get yourself patched up, so you can_ go get Sam_." The mention of Sam slowed her laughter, and she stumbled to her feet, suppressing a few giggles. After nodding, then realizing he couldn't see her, she staggered down the path, with a final "okay, I'm going."

Alister had a suspicion that if he ever had kids, he would end up telling them about the time his close friend laughed hysterically after she fell out of a tree.

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**I was watching this set of cutscenes, and Lara's two lines of dialogue just sort of came to me. I don't know, it was like one in the morning or something. Reviews, hugs and cookies appreciated.**


	3. Thinking with Portals

**Immortally Yours**

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**Genre: **Humor/Drabble**  
Rating: **K**  
Warnings: **None**  
Timeline Part: **22 (Manor Shenanigans)  
**Characters: **Erin, Lisa**  
**

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**Thinking with Portals**

_Excerpt from Lisa's Personal Journal:_

Wednesday, March 24th,

At Kurtis's request, I have been continuing research into Lux artifacts and temples, but there does not seem to be much to find. The order seems to be very efficient with keeping information confidential. He mentioned a week ago how there is a library in Prague with massive quantities of information; I may take my search there sometime in the future.

That's not the reason I am writing in this journal today, however. I was replacing some books this afternoon when I saw Erin wandering around the library. As if that wasn't strange enough, she had some sort of white device on her arm that glowed blue. When I asked her what she was doing, she replied "thinking with portals," and wandered off among the bookshelves while the device whirred and glowed orange.

I have no idea what she's up to, but I'm considering moving to one of the guest rooms for the week.

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**Introducing Erin and Lisa! I wondered what would happen if Erin got a hold of a portal gun... this is the result. xP**


	4. We All Fall Down

**Immortally Yours**

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**Genre: **Reflective/Tragedy/Angst  
**Rating: **T**  
Warnings: **Character Death, Language  
**Timeline Part: **19 (Lara Falls)**  
Characters:** Lara

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**We All Fall Down**

Lara had never liked falling. Maybe it was the way her hair flew in her face, or the overwhelming vertigo. More likely it was the alarming frequency with which it occurred. 'At least most of those times were only mildly life-threatening,' she thought. Unlike being flung out over the ocean by a giant fluorescent tentacle. That tended to be more than a bit fatal, if she could take a wild guess. 'Congratulations, Lara,' she thought dryly. 'Today you're going to die. Took you long enough.' She chose to ignore that she would probably have died within the week either way. Morbid thoughts wouldn't do while falling to her death. Her dark humor made her chuckle.

'You know,' said a little optimistic voice in her head, 'things could have gone worse.' It was sad, but she admitted it was true. Kurtis would live, she trusted Erin and Lisa to get him off the island immediately. She knew he was more than capable of doing so himself, but the Elders were extremely dangerous, and Kurtis had a certain capacity to be... reckless. Like attacking a fully-grown Nephilim with only a Chirugai. He was lucky to be alive. If she was dead before he pulled that stunt, or if the sword hadn't worked... she shuddered. That wasn't something she wanted to think about.

'And yet,' said that little voice, 'you would have sacrificed him to save yourself.' She winced internally. That was not one of her proudest moments. Since she had brought him to the island, into her home, there was a constant mutter in the back of her mind. 'You bitch. You massive bitch. He trusts you, but you'd kill him to save your own ass. You bitch.'

That night, it had somehow all become clear. She couldn't kill him, she would rather die. She would face her punishment, and he would escape. They would never find him. In some twisted way, she was thankful for the tentacle creature. At least it spared her dignity. Though she would never forget the look on his face when she fell, as long as she lived. The cold, detached part of her mind reminded her that would only be another few minutes, but her heart still clenched. Her head was full of 'what ifs'. What if they could have escaped? What if they overthrew the Elders? Was there a way things could have ended well?

_What if he had kissed her earlier?_

She saw the ocean looming below her, endless, deep, and oh-so-blue. Serenity washed over her. Life would move on. Kurtis would manage. Erin and Lisa would probably leave the island. They would fight, but all would be well. Rebecca and Chris would get married, and they would have loads of children they would hug and coddle. Or Rebecca would, anyway. Jack would be Jack. There was no other explanation for him.

And Lara would be dead. She would see Alex. The two sisters, together again. It would all be okay. The ocean was close. Mere seconds before oblivion.

"My name is Lara Croft... and I am about to die."

Peaceful blankness.

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**Depressing, I know. It kind of just wrote itself. Poor Kurtis :(**

**Reviews are much appreciated!**


	5. Blood on her Hands

**WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS CONTENT/THEMES THAT MAY BE TRIGGERING!**

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**Immortally Yours**

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**Genre: **Horror/Adventure  
**Rating: **M**  
Warnings: **Rape Themes, Language, Violence, Mild Blood/Gore  
**Timeline Part: **6 (Dragon's Triangle) I think we all know which scene...  
**Characters: **Lara, Alister, Whitman, That Russian Guy

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**Blood on her Hands**

The camp they were led into was broken-down and haphazard, only containing a handful of people, who were scuttling around, speaking to each other in their gruff, harsh language. Whitman was hunched over in fear, silent for once, but that didn't lessen Lara's irritation at him one bit. Struggling against the coarse rope that bound her hands proved futile, but she continued to try until the man dragging her along noticed her attempts. He snarled something at her, slamming her into a tree so hard her vision skewed. Shouts sounded, she thought she could hear Whitman, but everything was fuzzy. Her whole body felt like it was on fire, the pain emanating from her wounded side was sharp and piercing, while her head throbbed and her injured leg twinged in protest at all her sudden movements.

Slowly but surely, feeling came back, and the first thing she noticed the stench of the man in front of her was far too close for comfort. He leered at her, and despite herself she knew her answering expression was one of pure, unadulterated fear. His hand reached out, and she jerked away, desperate to stop this from happening…

More shouts. Gunfire. Was that… Reyes' voice? Lara couldn't tell, her blood was pounding in her ears too loudly, nothing was clear. The world was hazy, everything seemed to move slower than it should. _It's the adrenaline_, a small, disconnected section of her mind commented dryly.

Whoever the shouts came from, she suspected it wasn't someone on the side of the strange men. The man holding her spoke quickly, muttering under his breath. A curse, most likely. He seemed to give orders to the others, moving quickly away from her towards the sounds of gunshots. She stepped away from him, hoping to disappear somehow, but the man whirled around, quick as lightning, and held her by the throat against the tree. "Don't you fucking move," he said in broken English, and the disjointed part of her mind recognized his accent as Russian. He dropped her as suddenly as he had grabbed her, running off up the battered path towards the commotion. Lara collapsed, thankful for the air that immediately rushed into her lungs.

After a few moments lying gasping on the ground, she began to struggle to her feet. Lara froze when she felt another pair of hands grab her, but they fumbled with her bonds for a minute before the rope came loose, then releasing her. She turned around to find Alister, ashen-faced and heavily favoring one leg, with the rope in his hand, leaning on the tree. The poor man looked like he was about to pass out. After nodding her thanks, she stood as well.

"Are you all right?" she asked. Then, she noticed his lack of constraints, and a suspicious look crossed her face. "Why aren't you tied up?"

"I'm barely conscious, have a broken leg, and can't shoot a gun to save my life." His expression might have been intended as a wry smile, but it turned out more of a grimace. In spite of her general dislike of him, Lara couldn't help but sympathize with the man. He'd been through a lot in the past forty-eight hours, and obviously wasn't as used to this sort of thing as she could claim to be. Considering the situation, he was holding up remarkably well.

"Listen, you need to get out of here. Roth is trying to rally everyone at the mountaintop, so get there as soon as you can. I'm going to see about helping the others, and meet you there soon." She glanced at the tumult occurring up the path, certain those voices were from her shipmates. Alister nodded and began to limp over towards the forest. Just before she moved up hill, he called out behind her, "good luck." It may have been the first time he had spoken to her without an underlying layer of distaste or sarcasm. Lara looked over her shoulder with a rueful smile. "You too."

She turned back to her destination just as he slipped out of sight.

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Lara moved as silently as possible, hiding behind the piles of debris at the edge of the path. She was acutely aware that she needed a weapon, but finding one was a different matter entirely. The mayhem had been gradually moving up the path, but a handful of the Russian men had stopped in the small camp just ahead, blocking her way. Slipping behind the waist-high wall, she glanced around nervously, unsure where to move next. Just then, footsteps sounded from behind her, and she dove for the nearest cover – inside the rickety shack a few meters away. She pressed up against the wall, willing her heartbeat and breathing to quiet as booted feet stepped slowly and deliberately just outside. The same voice of the man who bound and dragged her resonated from the other side of the flimsy, cracked wall. "No one escapes," he said.

The man saw her, leveling his gun at her head, and demanding, "Out!" He said more in Russian, but she didn't understand. In a split-second decision, Lara locked her hands behind her back, pretending to still be bound. She knew her best chance would be to take him by surprise, but he grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her into the shelter. The pain stunned her, giving his hand time to run down her side, his face close to her ear. "I always find them," he snarled at her, one hand pointing the gun at her, the other clawing and groping at her. She was frozen in place, icy fear running through her veins. Her thoughts were fragmented and desperate. _Oh god don't not like this nonono stop please…_

**_No._**

Without her mind's explicit direction, her body reacted. Her knee came up, her foot slammed down on his. Her hands separated, her right elbow smashing into his face. Lara felt a fragment of delight when she felt his nose break under her assault. He went down, his gun falling from his hands as he grabbed his bloody face. She dove for the weapon, managing to grab it and reload before he attacked her again, leaping onto her and swiping at the gun. Two pairs of hands scrabbled for control of the gun; she had the upper hand for the time being, but the man was crushing her into the ground. He let go with one hand, instead pressing that arm into her throat, cutting off her air. Everything was going steadily fuzzier, she couldn't breathe…

**BLAM.**

Air. Sweet air. Lara took it in in gulps, hacking coughs shuddering through her. She slowly stood, noticing the dead man, a bullet through his head, curled on his side. There was blood all over the both of them. It soaked into her top and coated her hands, as well as all over the man's corpse. Looking between the 9mm pistol that dangled from her fingertips and the dead man, it became suddenly clear. She had killed him. In the back of her mind, she realized she ought to have been more distraught, but she couldn't find it in her to be so. How many women had this man violated, how many people had he killed? And Steph, hung by her wrists, _dead_, had he done that to her too? He had certainly captured the others. Speaking of which, she had to find them, and see about getting to the mountaintop.

A grim smile crossed her face. She had a weapon now.

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**What? Wha'dya mean my Lara's a psycho? What would give you that idea! xP  
Reviews would be appreciated. Next chapter should be fluffy :)  
**

**Raini: Thanks muchly! Personally I hate canon Alister, but considering all Immortalis!Alister has/is going to go through, he's a bit more... tolerable. Ish. I think. I'm glad you like Erin and Lisa! They're crazy fun to write, so they should return soon. And I will expand on what's going on at some point, but I don't know when. This is purely inspiration-based braindump :)**


	6. Waking Up

**Immortally Yours**

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**Genre: **Friendship/Humor/Romance  
**Rating: **T**  
Warnings: **Mild Language**  
Timeline Part: **22 (Manor Shenanigans) Lara First Returns to the Manor**  
Characters: **Lara, Erin, Kurtis, Lisa

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**Waking Up** (Lara POV)

I opened my eyes, blinking at the bright light filtering in through the windows. Why did everything hurt? I felt like I had been run over or something, even breathing was uncomfortable. Despite opening my mouth to speak, the only noise I could make for a moment was a strangled groan. Sharp pain shot through my head when a voice responded.

"The body moves!" In a few seconds, I saw Erin's blonde head hovering above me, a lopsided grin plastered on her face. Her grey eyes were creased with barely-concealed worry, but it soon disappeared and was replaced with her usual amused expression. I smiled weakly. Had she always been that good at hiding her emotions? Erin seemed genuinely content with my condition, however, and started propping me up, chattering as she did. "How do you feel? Any memory loss? What's the last thing you remember?"

My headache was subsiding enough to answer. "Like crap, but I think my memory's fine. The last thing I remember…" I paused a moment to think. "Kurtis… Natla… Fire! Natla hit me with a fireball. I think I was knocked out." Erin nodded along as I spoke, apparently content with my recollection. I breathed a sigh of relief, but froze immediately after. "Is Kurtis okay? Is Natla gone?"

Erin nodded, picking up a clipboard covered in indecipherable scribbles and plans, "Mutant queen's down for the count, Kurt's fine. Lisa's in worse shape than he is." Her eyes widened as she seemed to realize what she had just said. I sat up sharply, barely noticing the dull ache that flooded my stomach. "What happened to Lisa?!" Erin didn't respond, only laughed nervously. Swinging myself off the bed, I repeated the question, but Erin backed away and bolted from the room, me following right behind.

Erin dashed into the main hall a few steps ahead of me, flying down the stairs and continuing on towards the gym. As she passed the glass-walled tech room, she flung the clipboard in her hands through the door, somehow managing to land it directly on her chair. If I hadn't been hell-bent on throttling her, I would have admitted it was a very nice throw. However, circumstances didn't allow for complimenting clipboard-flinging skills, especially since Erin had just entered the gym and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Hey Kurtis, Lara's up!" before no doubt attempting to escape.

I caught the gym door and skidded to a stop, suddenly face-to-face with Kurtis himself. He seemed the same as ever, the same blue eyes peered at me and his face had that same scruffy look to it. His appearance, his expression, even the way he stood, it was all so _normal_. It made my heart clench. I was snapped out of my reverie by his voice, the same voice. "What did you do?"

It took me a moment to realize he was talking to Erin, who was standing behind him and using him as a shield. Her strategy was fairly effective, mostly due to the height difference between the two. Unfortunately, Kurtis hooked the hood of Erin's sweatshirt as she attempted to escape, pitching her off-balance, her arms windmilling haphazardly and strangled noises coming from her throat. Kurtis deftly picked the smaller woman up by the hood and, assorted flailing notwithstanding, set her back on her feet. The glares traded between the two were broken when a quieter voice spoke up from behind me. I whirled to see Lisa standing in the doorway, her left arm in a cast and a sling, an amused and slightly annoyed expression on her face. "Do I _want_ to know?"

"What happened?" I blurted, gesturing to her arm. To my surprise, she merely shrugged. "Natla somehow got another doppelganger of you, and it tried to take me out. It missed." Her factual explanation was reminiscent of how she would describe an ancient civilization, but hearing it applied to that situation was borderline unnerving. Erin had moved out of Kurtis-shield zone, and piped up as well, "Yeah, it blew up your London manor while it was at it. Hence, the Island manor." My jaw dropped upon hearing that, but Erin had already fled, dragging Lisa with her at the last second and leaving Kurtis and me alone in the gym.

"I am never leaving you three alone ever again. There'll be no _Earth _by the time I get back." Kurtis laughed, an unusual sound. I wasn't sure I had ever truly heard him laugh before, but the sound instinctively made me smile. I turned around to face him… bad idea. The second our eyes met, I could feel the color rising to my cheeks. Tearing my eyes away, I nervously cleared my throat before speaking quietly and awkwardly. "I… wanted to thank you." I was going to leave it at that, but before I realized what I was doing, I had stepped forward and hugged him. He smelled faintly of cigarette smoke, but it wasn't as repulsive as I had once thought. It suited him.

I pulled away suddenly, muttering about getting more rest as an explanation, before spinning and walking quickly to the door to hide my red face. I didn't notice Kurtis' utterly stunned expression when I left him in the gym, but I certainly noticed Lisa's pointed one as I crossed the main hall. It was accompanied with a quirked eyebrow that looked suspiciously Kurtis-like. I glared at her and stormed up the stairs, ignoring Erin's cackling from her techno-lair.

I might never admit it to any of them, but I was beyond glad to be home.

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**ERMAGERD DER FLUFFEEZ! Hehe. Erin is fun to write. Lisa too, not as much of her here though.  
And I fail at romance. Not sure if I've mentioned that, but yeah... fun stuff. :P**

**Reviews much appreciated *winkwinknudgenudge***


	7. Recovery

**Immortally Yours**

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**Genre: **Friendship**  
Rating: **T**  
Warnings: **Mild Language**  
Timeline Part: **Post-6 (Dragon's Triangle) Lara Recuperating Post-Yamatai  
**Characters: **Lara, Alister

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**Recovery**

The clacking of irregular footsteps outside her room alerted Lara to their owner before he even knocked on the door. Nonetheless, he tapped on the door once or twice before she called out, "Come in, Alister!"

Her friend – she honestly thought of him as a friend now, she realized with a jolt – looked much better than previously, now that the makeshift splint on his leg had been replaced with a clean, white cast. He carefully maneuvered through the doorway into the small room, hindered slightly by the crutch he was using to hobble around. After collapsing in the chair beside the hospital bed, he smiled wryly at her. "Don't take this the wrong way, Lara, but you look like shit." She laughed, for the first time in what seemed like forever. Soon enough, though, Alister's smile dropped away, replaced with a contemplative frown. It was a good few moments before he spoke again.

"They're going to be interviewing us sometime tomorrow." Lara suspected he had known for a while, but neglected to mention it to her. She couldn't say she was surprised. Sighing, she made to hop off the bed, quickly motioning for Alister to move. The IV that had been administering painkillers had since been removed, Lara was glad the doctors hadn't thoroughly checked it recently. She ducked under the bed to grab what little of her belongings she had managed to smuggle in, mainly one pair of slightly torn clothes, a reddish jacket, and a small disassembled pistol. After dumping them on the bed, she looked over at Alister, and told him, "Turn around."

She was mildly surprised that he did as she asked without question, but she soon realized it was more habit than anything else. Back on Yamatai, he seemed to have come to the conclusion that listening to her would keep him alive. Shrugging, she quickly changed into her spare clothes, stuffing the gun parts in the pocket of her jacket and speaking quietly as she did. "We never found Yamatai. We were shipwrecked somewhere and everyone died." As an afterthought, she added, "you can turn around now."

Alister nodded, "That way no thrill-seeking imbecile wakes up something best left sleeping. Right." Then he froze and stared at her. "Wait, you're _leaving_?!"

"I don't want anything to do with the media." She did a cursory glance over the room, making sure she hadn't stashed anything else she needed to collect before she disappeared. Alister shook his head. "Five cracked ribs, a concussion, numerous bullet wounds and a punctured side," he frowned, but continued, "And you get up and go three days later." Lara didn't like where that train of thought was going, and hoped she would be gone before he came to any conclusions.

Whatever he was thinking, he didn't let on much, only smiling secretively and saying, "There's something odd about you, Lara Croft." She grimaced, thinking over the events of the past few months. "You don't even know the half of it."

Moments later, she glanced between her friend and the door, realizing that this was it, goodbye. She wasn't good with goodbyes, mostly because her goodbyes consisted of corpses and confined tears. Speaking of corpses… "I'll talk to Steph and Sam's families."

"And Xander's?" His tone implied it was more than a request. She nodded, mute. Neither spoke for a long moment.

Alister smiled sadly, extending his hand to her. "Wherever I end up, my door is always open to you." Lara shook his hand, aware that that was it. How ironic his intended words of assurance worsened the pain in her chest. _Your door won't be open when you're dead_, she thought.

With that, Lara Croft slipped out the hospital door, into the midday haze.

* * *

**I admit, this one was really bittersweet. I love the weird 'friendship' the two of them have, and it's sad to see them part ways. I might write what happens right after though. I need me a dose of Pierre xD**

**As always, reviews are much appreciated, as are cookies and hugs :)  
**


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